Jamie Whincup, Anton De Pasquale share spoils at Sydney Supernight

Fraser Barton
Nov 07, 2021, updated Nov 07, 2021

Anton De Pasquale claimed race 24 of the Supercars championship, beating Shane Van Gisbergen on Sunday. Photo: Edge Photographics

Jamie Whincup has taken the spoils in the final race of the Sydney Supernight after officials opted to suspend the race due to heavy rain.

Whincup had a blistering start off the grid, jumping from sixth past teammate Shane Van Gisbergen in pole to first, before carnage ensued on the opening lap.

Forecasted rain that narrowly missed Sunday’s earlier race saturated the track, leaving Brodie Kostecki and James Courtney out of the race after they crashed heading into turn three of the opening lap.

The safety car was deployed but Van Gisbergen overshot the straight on the restart, spinning out before being hit with a pit lane penalty later in the race for a dangerous pit stop.

RED FLAG

Race 25 has been suspended. All cars will follow the BP Ultimate Safety Car back to pit lane and remain in the current order under parc ferme conditions #RepcoSC pic.twitter.com/POtUvjAm7v

— Supercars (@supercars) November 7, 2021

The championship leader finished 23rd, leaving Whincup to hold off Anton De Pasquale in second and Chaz Mostert in third on the way to his 124th career win, and second in 2021.

“Bit of a weird one to celebrate. Wins don’t come very often in this day and age,” Whincup told Fox Sports.

“Obviously pumped for the win but at the same time, Supercars did a good job. Just the fact we’ve got to rock up here next week as well. We’re in a position where we can’t be tearing cars up.

“So, the driver in me says keep going, the team owner in me says that’s the right thing to do.”

Not all heroes wear capes.

Some opt for the helmet, gloves and races boots instead #RepcoSC https://t.co/Nvi2ItQj1f

— Supercars (@supercars) November 7, 2021

Race officials called all cars in with seven laps remaining after Jake Kostecki’s crash brought the safety car out again, and track and visibility conditions worsened around Sydney Motorsport Park.

But the driver of the day was Chaz Mostert, who began the final race at the back of the grid before clawing his way up through the pack to secure a podium finish.

Earlier on Sunday, Anton De Pasquale maintained his stellar form taking victory in race 24, thanks to a faultless pit stop by his Shell V-Power team.

De Pasquale began the race on pole with soft compound tyres but was leapfrogged by Shane Van Gisbergen on his harder compounds, before retaking the lead on lap two.

He powered to a 57-second lead over Van Gisbergen midway through the race, before an efficient 8.4 second stop on lap 14 allowed the 26-year-old to exit just ahead of the Red Bull driver who had already pitted.

Van Gisbergen got within 1.5 seconds of the leader but couldn’t close the gap, as De Pasquale cruised to his fourth victory at Sydney Motorsport Park, his third in two weeks.

“Our car was a jet. It was good to show it as we didn’t get to yesterday. But good to get the win today and everyone is working hard,” he told Fox Sports.

James Courtney nabbed third place for Boost Mobile Racing, while Will Davison and Scott Pye rounded out the top five.